


A Day For Yourself

by Ysavvryl



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Before True Ending, Birthday Presents, F/M, Magic, Memories, Mixed Technology, Romantic Fluff, Worldbuilding, sheikah technology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:54:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23953402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ysavvryl/pseuds/Ysavvryl
Summary: What do you get a girl for her 119th birthday?Hint: Not wine because she's not 121.
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17
Collections: Fandom 5K 2020





	A Day For Yourself

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ZScalantian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZScalantian/gifts).



Strange thing: it had been easier to adapt to days and years of being a seal to evil than it was to adapt to life after the evil had been destroyed.

The thought occurred to Zelda as she realized that no, she didn’t have to keep an eye on Ganon and his Malice. She didn’t have to listen to his incomprehensible bellows and hateful rages. She could sleep in if she wanted to, and actually sleep. It would be nice to sleep in more because her mind had felt groggy for days… how many days now? She could find out, but did it matter? Hyrule was in ruins. She couldn’t leave it in ruins. Of course not, she was the princess… or queen now? Rebuilding was an immense task too… it could be done. She had to bring Hyrule back.

With all that had to be done, she shouldn’t be resting up for too long. Zelda sat up and found a bowl of eggs, bacon, and rice on the bedside table. There was no one else in the small house here. Rather rustic, but she could eat things again. She shouldn’t complain. She tried a bite of it, finding it to have an extra nuttiness to it that made it taste better than she’d expected. What had Link added to this to make it so tasty? She’d have to ask later.

After eating, she took the bowl and spoon downstairs to wash them up and set with the other breakfast dishes. It wasn’t something she was used to doing; servants used to take care of chores without her even thinking about it. Even on the road, the others usually took care of things. Doing things on her own could help to clear her mind, she’d realized. Or give her time to think over things while getting something accomplished. That was good.

Zelda then got dressed; Link still wasn’t in, but she’d come to expect that. She had barely seen him yesterday. The whole time she’d been sealing Ganon, she’d been waiting for him to heal and come back. She’d had confidence that he would. After all, Link was dedicated to his duty. He even kept quiet and did things people expected from a hero. He would surely focus and get things done.

But, things had changed. A hundred years had passed and as feared, the Shrine of Resurrection could fail to keep a person’s memories. It had restored Link and he had defeated Calamity Ganon. Yet, he was different too. He was more talkative, for one thing. He was now always off doing things, exploring. While this was his house, he offered it to her without hesitation and slept outside. Link was in town sometimes, but sometimes he couldn’t be found. What was he doing? She couldn’t search him out with her power now that they were both back in the world.

Link… how was he doing? No matter where he wandered off to, he’d be back in Hateno by sunset to check up on her. He asked her about the gaps in his memory that she might know, and then told her tales of his adventures since waking up after a century. Zelda already knew those tales; she had been watching over him, praying for him. Still, it was good to hear them in his own words. He never used to talk about himself, acting stoic to fit the image of a hero. But it seemed like he’d forgotten a lot of things and changed his attitude.

As it turned out, she didn’t need to search for him today. He was right outside by the cooking pot, checking over an ax and sharpening it up. “Good morning,” he said.

“Good morning,” she said, smiling. “It’s nice to see you around today.”

He chuckled. “It was worth it; you’re going to agree with it. How’re you doing today?”

“I feel good,” Zelda said, taking a seat on a stool nearby. “Thank you for breakfast. There was something I couldn’t quite identify in it, some nuttiness that made it taste better…”

“That’d be the acorns,” he said.

“Acorns? Really? They’re edible?”

Link nodded. “Not filling at all on their own, but they’re nice used like a spice. In some places, you don’t have much else to add flavor aside from acorns and salt. But that’s fine, there’s quite a lot of flavor with that too.”

“That’s all?” Zelda shrugged. “Not that I’ve cooked; the castle kitchen was always busy, it seemed.”

“Some cooking takes time, but not all of it,” he said. “I could show you some things. If you feel up to it, we can head out of town. You want to work on restoring Hyrule, right?”

She nodded. “Right. I’m not sure if people would accept me as the princess, but I should work towards restoration now. Though, where to start…? Hyrule is a vast and varied land.”

“I have an idea, but we need to prepare a bit,” Link said, shifting the ax to make it disappear before getting up. “Come on, let’s head up towards the lab.”

“Are we talking with them?” Zelda asked, feeling eager for that. She’d already talked with the researchers there, listening to their theories and work.

“We could, but I have something else in mind.”

The blue torches that burned on mysterious energy marked the way along a winding path upward, to the cliff where a Sheikah research lab was. Purrah was still an expert on ancient technology like the Sheikah Slate, although now she was focused on undoing an unfortunate de-aging process she’d caused on herself. From the sound of it, she’d stopped growing younger and now had to wait to see if she’d start growing older again. The lab was in a wonderful place too: the wind carried a hint of the ocean even up here, the town and its fields of goats, cows, and rice spread out below, and the spring sun was shining warmly now. But Link stopped them partway up the path, over a small lake outside Hateno. There was a moment that they just stood there and looked over the land. Standing there herself, Zelda could see why Link did this often on his journey.

Taking the Sheikah Slate off his belt, Link checked something, then offered it to her. “According to this, today is your hundred and nineteenth birthday.”

Zelda burst out laughing; she tried to put a hand to her lips to stop, but it didn’t work. “Oh my, I hadn’t thought of that. It sounds ridiculous; I suppose you weren’t asleep for exactly a century.”

“And I did take a while to get our mission completed,” he said, nudging her to take the Slate. “It was worth it, I believe. Although, what’s not worth it is that you haven’t had a good birthday for over a century.”

“As long as I don’t have to do anything formal today, that would be satisfying for me,” she said. Her birthdays before the Calamity had fallen into a routine: get dressed up in fancier clothes than she liked, listen to nobles and ambassadors give sometimes long speeches before they gave token gifts, and give polite words of thanks to everyone. The best things would be Urbosa showing up with a more thoughtful gift and the chef making a special cake. Then after the Calamity, she didn’t notice particular days, not even her birthday.

“It should be more than just satisfying,” Link said. “I got something made just for you. Close your eyes; it’s not something I could exactly gift wrap.”

“Okay,” Zelda said, smiling as she closed her eyes. Did he mean to kiss her? It wasn’t clear what his feelings for her were, either back then or now.

Instead, he handed her some kind of wooden bar… or bamboo? It was textured for good grip and had some weight to it. Like a chair? “There you are, you can look now. Happy birthday, Zelda.”

She opened her eyes and found what she thought: a bar of some kind with an attached sling (maybe a seat?) that went over her shoulders to where a canvas wing spread over her. An emblem in honor of Farore could be seen through the material. Unexpectedly, it made her feel more excited than the prospect of speaking with Purrah. “Wait, is this a paraglider like yours? This is amazing!”

Smiling at her delight, Link took the sling. “Not quite; the design of mine takes a lot of physical strength and stamina to use. I asked around and had several people look it over to figure out a redesign to make it easier to handle. There’s a couple ways to use it, with the harness and seat if you want to be safe.”

“I have wondered how you deal with sailing for long distances like that.” She could see how to set up the harness; it should spread the weight of herself and the glider so she didn’t have to be as strong as he was. The emblem might even be an enchantment.

“It can make my shoulders ache if I use it took much on one day,” he said. “Here, step into the seat and I can help you get strapped in.”

She nodded and followed his instructions. The drop wasn’t too far down, so a fall shouldn’t be bad. While there was a part of her mind that thought this all was crazy, she still ran for the cliff and jumped. The paraglider caught the wind immediately; the emblem shone a vivid green. Then she was drifting through the skies above the village, like she weighed nothing! From above, the trees and grass rippled like the sea to the cool breeze. A bird flew right by her, fearless and free. Link glided just behind her, always keeping watch.

On landing near the village fields, Zelda tried putting the paraglider away. It should be like any other inventory magic… and it went right away, to the pockets of her pants. Just to be sure, she reached in her pocket, thought of the glider, then pulled it out again. It came out loose, so she’d have to strap back in again, if she wanted that. She put it away as Link landed behind her. “Let’s do that again!” she said excitedly, feeling like a little girl with a new favorite toy.

Link nodded, pleased at her excitement. “Sure, and we can try out turning. All you have to do is shift your weight, but it takes some practice to get it right.”

“Where we took off from last time should be fine since the drop’s not far,” Zelda said. And so they headed back up to the lab’s path to fly again.

And again and again. Eventually, the children in town noticed and greeted them on landing with eagerness in their eyes. Link said that her glider could handle a good amount of weight, so Zelda brought the kids on flights one at a time. There was a lot of squeals and yells and ‘Hi Mom!’ and ‘There’s my house!’ going on, adding to the fun. They ended up flying around until there was a call for lunch.

Cake too, as the innkeepers had put together a special feast for Zelda’s birthday, for everyone in Hateno to celebrate. There wasn’t enough room inside for such a celebration, but they shared the meal with everyone outside the community kitchen: a roast boar, a salad of mixed spring greens and carrots, rice balls, and a honey cake decorated with berries and fresh cream. Once they saw that Zelda didn’t mind informal treatment, the villagers cheerfully congratulated her and shared stories and songs. It was good that they were relaxed around her. When she’d arrived, they’d been stunned to meet a ‘legend’ in person and were unsure what to do aside from thank her. It was so much more fun being treated like a neighbor rather than a princess.

Once most were finished, the children were given some wool and spindles. “The young ones think it’s a game, while the older ones realize it’s a chore but find it more fun than most,” one of the women said. She had a basket full of wool that she was running a metal comb through.

“What is it for?” Zelda asked.

“Making yarn,” she said. “Thread is better done with the pedal-run wheels, which I’ve already made a good number of spools of. But before you spin the wool or cotton, you have to comb it out to get out debris and kinks. Not too much, though; that damages the wool and makes whatever it’s spun into weak.”

“Though we’ve got plenty of wool now,” a man said, proud of it. “A group of us made a special trip out to gather wool from wild goats and sheep. Even got a basket of rabbit fur, which will certainly be sought after.”

“How do you get the wild animals to stay still long enough to sheer them?” Link asked him.

He took a reed flute from his bag. “This. There’s a special song that’s been passed down in this village that puts animals to sleep. Small children too; there’s old legends of other magical songs, but nothing as useful as this.”

The woman nodded and kept combing the wool. “No good for monsters, but now that they’re retreating from the world, we can make special trips like that. We want to gather up a lot of wool too if we’re going to have a market day again.”

“Are you going to go ahead with that?” Link asked.

“A lot of us want to,” she said. “But it can’t be done if the traders don’t agree to it. They’ve always come this way to fetch milk and wool, as we’re the best source around.”

“Orders for dyed clothes as well, since our dye shop can make any color possible,” the man said. “Other dyers can’t say that since they don’t know the magic.”

“Your dyer knows magic?” Zelda asked, interested.

He nodded. “Yup. When Sayge explains it, I can barely follow it. But he can dye anything any color, which is basically magic.”

“I think it’s some kind of chemistry,” the woman said. “At least he’ll talk about chemicals and extracts when he’s not making puns. But he’s definitely someone many people want to do business with. The traders have risked their lives and fortunes in the past century to keep goods available and do business with people like the Kochi family. Like, we would not have eggs if traders didn’t come from Kakariko, nor cane sugar. Although, where are they getting the sugar?”

“That’s one thing I haven’t figured out,” Link said. “The traders won’t tell me where to find sugar.”

“With Ganon gone, the monsters can be driven out for good,” Zelda said. “That should make the roads safer, so the traders should agree to a market day.” And getting trade going strong again would be good for Hyrule.

“Possibly,” the woman said. “But it also depends on the roads. Inventory magic can only hold so much; I’m sure they’d rather have a wagon for goods like fabrics, plus what they bring in. Since not all the roads are in good condition, traders who brought wagons were rare sights.”

Then before getting the castle and its town back up, it would make more sense to repair roads and bridges, and get a patrol going. The monsters would be less of a problem, but there was still the Yiga Clan and other possible thieves to cause traders problems. Now, how to pay the workers… had Ganon done anything with the castle treasury? He’d been in a bestial spirit form the whole time, so money didn’t matter to him. But some of his monsters might have cared.

“Oh right, I just remembered something,” the woman said, pausing in her combing. “Link, have you spoken with Sayge today? He had a favor he wanted to ask of you.”

“Not yet, but we’ll go check.”

Most of those who weren’t getting involved with the spinning were going back to other work. But two more people came up to her: Purrah and her assistant. “Hey, sorry about coming in late,” Purrah said. “I was trying to finish a project. Happy birthday, Zelda! Is there any cake left?”

“I believe so,” Zelda said, pointing over to the kitchen area where the food had been laid out.

“Alright!” she said, hopping in place. “But first, I got the thing done, so bring out your Sheikah Slate.”

“Oh, I’ve got that now,” she said, taking it off her belt.

“And, so have I,” Purrah said, bringing out another Sheikah Slate.

Zelda gasped. “There’s another one?”

“Link found it,” she said.

“It was in a difficult shrine,” Link said. “And wasn’t working.”

Purrah nodded and poked at the second Slate. “But I got it fixed! Now, I’m going to do a data transfer from the first Slate. That should do something handy.”

“Ah, so then they’ll have the same information?” Zelda said, seeing a message pop up. It asked if she approved of the data transfer; she pressed the button for yes.

“That’s what we’re hoping for,” Purrah said.

“Like the warp locations,” Link said. “We could get some horses to check the roads if you want, but we could also get both Slates to transport us and use the paragliders to get anywhere fast. The towers are really good spots because you can glide a long way from up top.”

“I can’t wait to try that,” Zelda said, smiling at the thought. This had already been her best birthday, but it kept getting better.

Both Slates chimed as their transfer was done. “Aaaand…” Purrah said dramatically, checking the one in her hands. Then she beamed. “Got it! Transferred map data, warp locations, photos, and compendium data. You’re all synced up and ready to roll.” She then handed the Slate to Link.

“Thanks, it’s a big help,” Link said, checking it over before setting it on his belt.

“I always am that,” Purrah said. “Have fun on your adventures, kids! I’m getting some cake.” She then went over towards the innkeeper to see about that.

Her assistant shrugged, giving a smile of accepting the quirkiness. “It should work just fine, but let us know if there’s problems.”

“Of course,” Zelda said, putting her own Slate on her belt. Her own now; she wouldn’t need to share it with him anymore. She’d counted herself lucky when her father hadn’t shown any interest in the Sheikah Slate. “Shall we stop by the dye shop then? We spoke to the owner earlier, but I think he left already.”

“Sure, if you’re interested,” Link said. “I have a good idea of what he wants.”

“Does it have to do with the market day they’d hoping for?” she asked.

He nodded. “Based on the talk around town, that makes most sense.”

Along the main street of the village, the dye shop had an open front with vats of dye inside and out. Racks inside had already dyed yarn drying there. “Zelda, Link, I’m tickled pink that you two stopped by,” Sayge said. “It slipped my mind earlier, but I had a favor to ask if you were going around Hyrule.”

“We are going to check on the towns and see how things are,” Zelda said. “What did you have in mind?”

He picked up a small vial of dye to fiddle with. “I’m sure you’ve heard by now that we’d like to attract traders for a market day here. Without the monsters everywhere, we’d like a lot more supplies for expanding our work outside of town. One of the things my service could use is dye ingredients. We’ve gone with customers bringing us what they need, but now we might be able to keep some dyes in stock. Link, you’ve brought in some good ones on your visits. Could you two gather information on ingredient locations? That way, we’d have a wide variety of yarns and cloths to offer the traders.”

“Sure, what are you looking for?” Link asked.

“I made a list…” Sayge checked his pockets, then his desk. His wife picked up a piece of paper off a table to offer. “There it is, thank you. I have a book full of my family’s records on ingredients, plus a couple of things you brought in. Some ingredients I can grab right in town, like red and green are easy to extract from apples, mushrooms, or herbs. For this, I asked for ingredients that shouldn’t require hunting monsters, since they won’t be everywhere now, thank the goddesses. And you both, of course.”

Link took the list and looked it over. After a moment, he nodded. “Flint’s not hard to come by.”

“It’s not,” the dye shop owner admitted. “Problem is, without monsters, there’s no longer an easy way to get a nice clean gray. I consulted my grandfather’s notes and want to do some experiments in turning black or white to gray. Sometimes you get a natural gray, but it might not look so nice. White’s easy, since I can use rice or their husks if the white isn’t natural. To make a lot of black for experiments, I need a lot of flint.”

“Got it,” Link said.

“Before we go though, I heard that you use both magic and chemistry in making dyes,” Zelda said. “I can understand the chemistry, extracting pigments from natural sources. But how does the magic play into it? Do you use it for special colors? Or maybe to make sure dyed fabric stays bright for longer?”

Sayge seemed taken aback by her questions. “Uh, well, to be honest, I’ve heard that there’s spells to make fabric look different, or to resist fading or stains. But not even my grandfather knew those spells; they were known exclusively by chemists in Castle Town.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Zelda said. “There might be records in the castle library. We could take a look for you.”

“That would be wonderful if you find something,” he said. “But to be honest, I already know the most useful spell to making dyes: neutralizing the stench so I can work in town like this.”

“Neutralizing the stench?” she asked, surprised at what he considered important. Then she noticed that it smelled pleasantly like cooked rice and herbs in the stall.

The shop owner nodded. “I’m cooking, reducing, and transforming things like bugs, plants, salt, flint, monster parts, and more into usable dyes. There’s other chemicals too that don’t play nice with your nose. If you try making dyes without a neutralizing spell, then your dye shop will bear a stench for half a mile all around. And back when the blood moon would restore monsters, it would’ve been dangerous to be so far away from others.”

“Oh, I see,” she said. “It would be very important then.”

After leaving the dye shop, Link gave her the list. “These shouldn’t be hard to find while checking on towns. Some are out of the way.”

Zelda shrugged and smiled. “I don’t mind; it’s good to have reasons to explore around.” She looked over the list.

Dye Ingredients:  
Flint  
Blue Nightshade  
Mighty Banana  
Sunset Firefly or Armoranth  
Cool Safflina  
Luminous Stone or Bladed Rhino Beetle  
Mighty Thistle or Warm Safflina  
Razorshroom or Chickaloo Tree Nut  
Electric Safflina

Would like advice on how easy or difficult these ingredients are to obtain, particularly the colors with two options.

Looking over the list, Zelda said, “Hmm, I know about the safflina flowers. They all grow around Gerudo lands. Some other ingredients should be in this region, maybe not right in town. I’m not sure about the bananas or chickaloo nuts, though there is a saying that little birds love chickaloos because they are chicky-boos.” She giggled at the silliness of it.

“The Hyrule Compendium in the Slates have recorded places that I’ve found these ingredients,” Link said. “I’m sure the bananas grow around the Faron region. Though the chickaloo nuts could be difficult to get in good numbers. I’ve spotted small birds dropping them, but not where the birds find them.”

“So maybe we need to stalk some birds?” she suggested. “Might make an interesting diversion for a day or two.”

Link smiled at that. “Sure, why not? But today’s diversion is doing things you like. What do you want to do or see?”

Something came immediately to mind, right here in Hateno. “There’s a shrine near here I want to look into, since you opened them,” Zelda said. “You’ve talked about them, but I didn’t feel up to looking around myself until today.”

“I thought it might be that,” he said, making her laugh. “Let’s go.”

As it was an old building with seemingly no purpose, the shrine was left to itself. Veins in the dark stone glowed pale blue; the pillar by the entrance was also lit up. The dark appearance in the past was a sign, then, that the shrine was inactive. Taking her Slate, she held it up to the pillar’s surface. The light pulsed; the Slate showed recognition of the shrine. But as the door was open, nothing happened beyond that.

“I have a theory about this, so I’d like to go down alone first,” Zelda said, hoping that he’d agree.

He nodded, thankfully. “This is a puzzle shrine, so it’s fine.” Then he put his Slate to the pillar.

Somehow, floor in the shrine brightened to that. Zelda stepped onto it quickly; after a moment, it descended into a dark shaft. Down and down, seemingly gentle and slow although the light above diminished quickly. How deep was this going? More importantly, could they get such lifts build elsewhere? In her recollection, only the castle had been big enough for something like a lift to be useful. Bigger buildings might get built if lifts were available, though.

Then the lift stopped. There was nothing. What was going on? Link had told her about cavernous chambers of slick surfaces, fully of strange ancient machinery. That had sounded so promising. Despite what happened, technology couldn’t be to blame for the Calamity. Perhaps their expectations that they only needed the technology was a fault. But technology like the Slates and some of the puzzle element like fans, switches, or even the smooth surfaces could all be of use. So where was the interior of the Shrine?

The lift went back up after a moment, not finding its destination either. “There was nothing down there,” Zelda said, coming off the lift.

“Really?” Link asked, puzzled.

“Just the dark shaft, not even a hole,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest and looking down in thought. “Which means… the monks waited for one purpose, to help the hero against the Calamity. Since you have defeated the Calamity, their purpose has been fulfilled. And so their spirits and their trials have passed on.” Then she looked over at him. “Or, they only respond to the sword’s chosen hero.”

“Could be,” he said, heading into the door. “Come on, let’s see. I think I left a chest behind here.”

Taking the lift with Link had a very different effect. Glowing blue lines surrounded them with familiar patterns; the shaft filled up with light. They got to the bottom and found a grand hall made of enormous blocks that even a Goron would have trouble moving around. The room ahead was just what he’d described: a cavernous space where neither the ceiling nor the floor past the walkway could be seen. Close by, a staircase led up to a spherical device, a long gated ramp, and a maze of iron bars floating in the air.

Link brought her over to the orange device and nudged it. The floating maze tilted; a tube above it dropped a glowing sphere. “The puzzle here is to get the key sphere over to that lock.” He pointed over to a indentation below a slope that was not connected to the maze.

“Then it’s like a toy I’ve seen,” Zelda said, taking hold of the orb. She spotted the chest he mentioned, but since he was waiting, she tried out the puzzle herself. This ball had more inertia then the toy’s ball did. That made it harder to get the ball around corners and avoid the holes in the floor and walls. Although once the ball fell out, a new one reappeared.

When she frowned as the ball fell through yet again, Link said, “There’s a trick to make it easier.”

“Like make the ball easier to control?”

He shook his head and made a turning motion with his hand. “Turn the maze completely over.”

“You can do that?” She turned the orb completely around; the maze flipped itself entirely, revealing a flat surface with just a few holes. From there, all it took was figuring out how to give the ball enough velocity to be tossed over to the slope. “That was a lot easier, but isn’t that cheating?”

There was a chiming jingle from a gate further down the walkway; a gate lifted its bars. “Nope,” Link said. “The monks appreciate resourcefulness, and this solution still uses the control orb here.”

“It is clever.” Looking towards the gate, she pointed to an empty spot. “Was the monk over there?”

“Yes, they faded once I got their blessing,” he said, turning the maze back over. “I’m going to go grab that chest, if only to see what it had.”

Zelda stepped back as he called out his paraglider. She still felt the powerful gusts from Revali’s signature spell as Link jumped into the air and was carried far overhead to glide into the floating maze. Once the magic wind moved past, Zelda noticed there wasn’t any moving air down here. The maze was well out of reach for jumping and too high for gliding. But with Revali’s Gale, the chest didn’t look hard to reach.

Once Link got what was in the chest, a hard tremor shook the walkway. Zelda stumbled in trying to keep her balance. Link was back over as quickly as he could; he grabbed her hand and started running for the exit. Feeling that they should get off the walkway at least, Zelda ran as quickly as she could to keep up with him. Blocks started falling into the bottomless pit and the walkway behind them. The thundering collapse convinced them to keep running until they got in the lift. It took them right up as the shrine crumpled up from the top and bottom.

“That was strange,” Link said, imitating the way it crumpled with his hands. "Not the treasure; it was a fairly ordinary bow. But it looked like the shrine was crushed."

On catching her breath, Zelda said, “It falls in line with what I was thinking. I couldn’t see you as clearly when you were in these shrines. And with the way nothing appeared to me at first, it suggests that these shrines are not actual places. They’re manifestations of the monk’s power.” She sighed as the lift got back to ground level.

“What’s the problem with being right?” he asked, giving her a curious look. This expressiveness was refreshing, after how he’d been before the Calamity. Though it did make being with him different.

She stepped out of the shrine. “Because that means that any mechanisms within the shrines are also manifestations, just things they dreamed up. We won’t be able to study and copy them, especially if they’re collapsing now that Calamity Ganon was defeated. Unless, are there other shrines you didn’t get treasures from? Or finish?”

“I’m fairly sure there are,” he said, scratching his head. “Just have to remember which ones… there are a lot hidden around in nooks and crannies.”

“As long as there’s treasures left behind, we should have time to investigate those shrines,” Zelda said. “And who knows? Maybe we can still learn something from what the monks can dream up.”

“Want to take a look? We can warp to any of the ones I’ve found.”

If they were taking today to indulge her… the shrines would be interesting if they could find one that was still stable. But more than that, there was something personal that she wondered about. “Well, didn't you say that you got your paraglider from my father? Where did you meet him?”

“Outside the Shrine of Resurrection on the Great Plateau,” he answered. “But he didn’t reveal himself until one evening in the Temple of Time.”

She leaned against the pillar a moment to think. After they’d defeated and sealed Ganon, she had briefly seen her father’s ghost at the castle, along with the other Champions. They had faded away like they were leaving the world. Their tasks were done; they could rest. Still, a part of Zelda wanted to go to the Temple of Time. To meet her father? But he might not be there. What would she even say to him? That she’d finally succeeded? That his priorities were mixed up and he had no idea what the sacred power was about? Did she really want to meet him?

But thinking that his spirit was most likely at rest… “I’d like to go see the Temple of Time,” Zelda said. “I don’t know, I just feel like I should go there.”

“Sure, it won’t be a problem,” he said, checking his Slate. “If you’re going to look around, would you like to camp out up there, or come back here in the evening?”

“Camping would be fun,” she said, smiling at the idea. “Let’s do that.”

Link nodded. “I’ve got supplies, so let’s go to the Plateau’s tower. Just select it on the Slate’s map and we’ll be there.”

“Got it,” she said, taking her own to get to the map. Warping hadn’t been available in the past. From watching him, the towers had to be making such instant travel possible. The towers were always talking to each other. Although, she couldn’t hear them like this and they only talked about weather conditions and observed data.

There was a tingle all through her body once she accepted the warp location, then a feeling like the whole world was moving around her. For a brief moment, she was surrounded by light. When it cleared up, she was standing in a stony structure in the sky. Things looked weathered and natural, like this was all formed by some coincidence of erosion of stone and petrification of vines. But a stone hanging in the center showed blue runes briefly before fading back to black; a magic circle below their feet did the same. This was made in ancient days by people and here it was, still working after a thousand years.

There was a magnificent view in every direction. To the north, they could see the castle and, if she looked close, the four Divine Beasts still turning their gaze there. In other directions, there were good views over the plateau and the southern lands. Was that even the ocean in the distance? And this was all Hyrule, full of many different peoples, cultures, and histories. The Hylians, the Gerudo, the Gorons, the Rito, the Zoras, the Koroks, the Sheikah… and perhaps more waiting in small corners or past the visible boundaries. Over hundreds and thousands of years, Hyrule managed to unite them all. Mostly. And there was the force of evil that kept coming back, time and time again.

Going to the edge, Link pointed down to the temple. “See that window near the top? There’s some structure still standing there. That’s where I last spoke with the king. While it’ll take some climbing, we can reach it from the roof.”

“All right, let’s glide there,” Zelda said, calling her glider out. Since they were higher up than in Hateno, she strapped herself in before leaping off the edge of the tower.

They could travel across the land with horses… but why do that when they could fly through the air?

She wished she could fly right in an open window; that’d be great! However, it was too far from the tower, and too narrow to get her glider through even with the damage the temple had taken. They landed on the hill that the temple stood on. Ruins of buildings were around, with the mossy remains of Guardians inside. On the grand stone steps, wildflowers and grass were growing freely in cracks. She could remember how the building had looked before, and the people who had taken care of the temple. It seemed like there was nobody here now.

On the side of the temple, there was a sturdy metal ladder that they climbed up. The roof was tough to scramble up, but Zelda made it up to the peak. From there, it was easy to see how to get into a room that had once been secluded in the tower. There was little in there: some stones, eroded wood, and signs of animal nests. There were some fragments of cloudy glass in the windows, but an intact roof kept the room from being entirely open to the elements.

And… Zelda paused a minute, doing her best to listen to the spirits. Her father wasn’t there, nor any strong spirits. There were a lot of echoes here, though. Song and prayer from visitors, hushed conversations from closed rooms, even a stately silence when people did not want to tread unnecessarily in this sacred place. Perhaps if she listened long enough, she might overhear something interesting. But this wasn’t the time to be listening to the past. They needed to check on the state of Hyrule now and see what needed to be done to reconnect everyone.

In the meantime, Link had sat down by one of the windows. Going over to sit by him, Zelda said, “Father must have passed on fully. But there’s a lot of history here, things this place remembers.” She shrugged. “Of course there is. According to legends, this place existed here before Hyrule was Hyrule. It was once considered the centerpiece of our kingdom. It’s sad to see it like this, inaccessible to most and falling apart.”

“The statue of Hylia is still below,” Link said. “The temple can be rebuilt.”

“Yes, but,” she started counting on her fingers, “there’s many other places that need rebuilding too: the castle and its town, trading centers, silos for storing food better, possibly wells and windmills, definitely roads and bridges to enable better travel. And you know, I’ve wondered if it’d be possible to change a Guardian from being a weapon to being like a horse, something that could pull a large wagon or plow.”

“They wouldn’t care about rough roads,” he said.

“Right. I could ask the Sheikah researchers if they would look into it.” She tapped her fingers on her knees. “Hmm, if they’d do it. I can understand if people won’t trust the Guardians. They were overtaken by Ganon. However, they’re machines that aren’t evil or good. They’re tools. If we use them right, we can make our lives better. Besides, if we removed their weapons, evil like Ganon couldn’t use them against us like he did.”

“If we could do that and figure out how to copy the Slates, things would change greatly,” Link said.

“That would take a lot of work, but I believe it would make things better,” she said. “But first, the roads and people to patrol them… we need to check on all the towns and where people live. I would also like to check up on the Divine Beasts, and investigate the castle for the library and treasury. Any book that’s still intact is valuable, and we need something to pay workers with when we’re ready to begin repairing and rebuilding. We can hunt down the dye ingredients along the way.”

He nodded. “Sounds like a plan to me. I’ll be with you to make sure you’re safe.”

“Thank you, I’m glad for that,” she said. Although, it reminded her of the other Champions. They had been no less devoted, following their duty beyond their death. But they were no longer around… it caused a lump in her throat, as well as other thought… “Um, how much do you remember before waking up here? You said there were gaps in your memory, but you seem to know certain things well.”

“Not much,” he said. But he didn’t look troubled. Perhaps he’d made some peace with that. “I remember your story. There are even some memories I have that seem to be from you, rather than me. And I remember the other Champions, some things about them that I feel like I shouldn’t know. Like, I remember one night in the desert after you’d asked Urbosa to be a Champion. She scared away some of the Yiga Clan and spoke about your mother. I’m sure there was no way I could have witnessed that.”

She remembered that easily, how Urbosa had noticed the Yiga when Zelda thought they were just ordinary travelers… and about the nickname. “Right, I’m sure you weren’t there. That’s strange.” She looked over at him, wondering if he was hiding how he felt again despite showing more personality now.

He really didn’t seem bothered as he said, “I don’t remember my story before I woke up down there. Like I don’t know how I got the Master Sword the first time; I only know information that others speak of. But I know you, and I want to protect you and Hyrule. For one thing, I wasn’t going to let you stay in the castle.”

As a chuckle escaped her before she thought of it, Zelda leaned on her knees. “Oh really? What if I had been stubborn?”

“I would’ve dragged you out of there,” he said bluntly, but then smiled when she laughed again. “Although I doubt you would be like that. I know how restricted you were in the name of devotion and duty. I want to show you how I came to love Hyrule despite remembering only a few things about myself: by meeting its peoples and exploring its wonders large and small.”

“That sounds wonderful,” she said. “I’ve seen some places when I could get away; I’d like to see them as they are now, and other places I could never reach.”

Link nodded. “Sure. Speaking of which, there’s the statue of Hylia here; it’s awe-inspiring to think of how old it may be. There’s a snowy part of the Plateau too, with cold lakes and rivers that will take your breath away in more ways than one. There’s a haunted forest; we’d have to be careful around there, but we can peek around if you want. There’s even an old cabin that your father used before he revealed himself, and old ruins elsewhere.”

“Seems like there’s a lot to see,” she said.

“Everywhere you go in Hyrule, there’s something to see,” he agreed. “It’s your choice where we go.”

“That’s a wonderful freedom to have. Well then,” she sat up again. “You were a closed book to me for a long time, despite being assigned to guard me. But I heard a story, at least once. They say that a young Captain of the Guard married a wandering trader. He had to stay near the castle most of the year, while she had a hard time staying in one place for long. They had two children, a boy and a girl. Sometimes the children lived with their father in a house in Hyrule Castle Town, learning swordplay and a decorum benefiting nobility. Sometimes they traveled with their mother, learning to survive in the countryside and take advantage of its resources. The family wasn’t often together, but it was said that they were happy with their lives.

“When the boy was sixteen and the girl was twelve, they and their mother stopped at a stable outside the Great Forest for a few days. An old man there told them about the children of the forest on the first night. The Koroks lived beyond the Lost Woods with the Great Deku Tree; the way to their dwelling was led by the flames. Although others said that the Lost Woods were a dangerous place, the girl was entranced by the stories. She asked her brother if they could go find the Deku Tree and the Koroks. He agreed, and while their mother was busy the next day, they took a hike into the mysterious woods.

“They worked together and figured out the riddle of the flames, allowing them to pass through the Lost Woods. However, a monster had entered the area to hunt the Koroks. It found them before they found the Koroks. The two siblings fought the monster, but its evil magic formed a shell that shattered their weapons. The boy ended up taking a blow for his sister and was knocked out cold.

“When he awoke, he was surrounded by the Koroks. They had found him alone and brought him into their safe place to be healed. The Deku Tree was asleep at the time, so the boy asked them where he might find the monster’s nest, and hopefully his sister. As his own weapon had broken, he took a sword that he found in the clearing, out from a stone it was sitting in. He used it to fight off smaller monsters as he followed the Koroks to where their hunter nested. His sister was fine, defending herself with a tree branch. They slew the monster with the weapon he had found, then headed back to the Korok’s clearing.

“The Deku Tree had awakened in the meantime; he revealed that the sword that the boy had taken was the legendary Master Sword, one that sealed the darkness. As he had taken the sword from its pedestal and drew out its power, it was a sign that the sword has chosen him as a hero. Because of that, he parted ways with his mother and sister to go to his father, for extra training for the role that he had been chosen for.” Zelda paused on finishing. “And that’s what I know of how you found the Master Sword the first time.”

He was quiet again, looking across the roof of the Temple. This place was very quiet, Zelda noticed. After being in places like the former castle, and Hateno Village now, there was little going on in a place like this. Even the sounds of nature, the birds and the rustle of trees, those seemed off in the distance. But the temple wore such silence gracefully.

“Is there something wrong?” Zelda asked, watching him.

Link shook his head. “It all sounds familiar, like a story I’ve heard. I can’t really remember that; I can imagine it, and it sounds right. But that’s it.”

“That’s unfortunate. I wish I could tell you more, but that’s it.” She crossed her arms over her knees. “It’s another story where the facts have been lost to time. I wonder how many princesses and heroes have been here at the Temple of Time, how many of us had to repeat this struggle. And now they’re all legends, lucky to be recorded in the castle library. And the Champions, our dear friends, they’re in the realm of legends now. It’s all so tragic, and someday another princess and hero will have to fight against a force of evil. What actually needs to be done to stop all this from repeating?”

“I don’t know,” he said, turning to her. “But they are legends. People will remember them as heroes, as they should be. I do wish something could be done to stop this permanently.”

“Well we have to rebuild, so we can’t spare a lot of time looking into that yet,” Zelda said, feeling sad and yet determined. They couldn’t leave Hyrule as it was; they’d bring it back, for their fallen friends, for the people who still lived. Doing that wouldn’t bring the dead back… but then nothing would. “Although, for the rest of today, we can look back over the past. Today has been fun, but I just feel like I need a bit more time before we press ahead for the future.”

“That’s fine,” he said. After another moment of quiet, he put an arm around her. “It’ll be fine. We’ll make things work.”

Zelda nodded and leaned into him. “Right. You know, you’ve changed and forgotten things, but you’re still you. I’m glad you’re with me; we can make things work.”

They spent the rest of the day up there, even forming a campfire to keep talking about their friends and memories. It could be sad, funny, or wise, or any mix of them. But the memories were all important.

The next day, they’d begin another adventure around Hyrule, one of restoration.


End file.
